Bo Knows Real Estate

Real estate has been designated as an essential service. How do we adjust to keep our home buyers and sellers safe? Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) [00:00:00] Real estate in the era of the Coronavirus. How do we keep buyers and sellers safe? That's coming up next. [00:00:05][5.0] [00:00:09] You're listening to the Bo Knows Real Estate podcast. Tips and advice for home buyers, sellers and owners with award winning Remax agent Bo Kauffmann. [00:00:19][9.9] [00:00:22] Real estate has, at least for now, been deemed an essential service. And there's a couple of reasons for that. One of them is purely economic. There's a ton of spin off business coming as a result from every house or condo sale. Aside from taxes and legal fees and of course, real estate fees, moving costs, people buy furniture. People buy appliances. They fix up their houses when they sell and they fix up their houses after they buy. So there's a multitude of spin off benefits, economic spin off benefits from real estate. [00:00:53][31.4] [00:00:54] But the other one is that we are able to conduct business and keep buyers and sellers safe. Manageable Real Estate Association has put in place a number of safeguards and I'm going to explain those right now. In the past, it used to be able to book a showing for a house just about any time. And even if you're showing overlapped with another buyer, that was that was okay. But that's been changed now. So from here on in, you can only book one buyer at a time. So if your agent if you looking at a house, new agent books a two to three o'clock window, you'll be the only ones in the house because sellers have also been encouraged to leave the house at the time. That may not always be possible, especially if they're elderly. They may not be able to go outside depending on the weather, but in most cases, sellers will be going outside and you'll you and your agent will be the only ones in the house at that time. [00:01:44][50.3] [00:01:45] The next thing is that open houses are pretty much a thing of the past. There's no way to control the crowds sometimes. I remember having open houses in River Heights in February and there was people lined up outside to get into the house because the house was full already. So I don't believe any agents are gonna be having any open houses. It's just it's not worth the risk. Also, the Manitoba Real Estate Association has come out with a form that buyer agents and their clients must sign and fill out, indicating that nobody there who's going into the house. That's the agent or the buyers have traveled in the past 14 days, are showing symptoms or signs of the illness, have not knowingly been in touch with anybody who does have the virus. So like I said, buyer agents and their buyers have to sign these forms, which also make it tougher for buyers to see a house without an agent. Gone are the days of just pulling up in front, calling the listing agent and saying, hey, please slide down here and show me the house. [00:02:41][56.3] [00:02:42] Which is further encouragement for anybody who's looking to buy a house or a condo to hook up with a real estate agent right now and get those forms filled out to assure that you are not carrying the virus and you're safe. And that will give you easier access to the listings these days. [00:02:57][15.8] [00:02:58] In addition to these, I've personally implemented a couple of different procedures that will help protect my clients and myself. Going forward, I will not be driving buyers around in my personal car anymore. That's to protect them and myself. Buyers would have to meet me at the listings. I will also bring to each

Are you planning to buy a house or condo in 3 months (or more) from now? There is one thing you could (should) be doing RIGHT NOW that will earn you extra money. Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) [00:00:00] First time homebuyers. Are you planning on buying your first home in three to six months? What should you be doing right now? [00:00:07][6.7] [00:00:11] You're listening to the bone nosed real estate podcast. Tips and advice for home buyers, sellers and owners with award winning Remax agent Bo Kauffmann. [00:00:21][10.2] [00:00:26] These days, homebuyers plan well in advance. So if you're a first time homebuyer thinking of buying your first house or condo in three months or longer from now, here's something you should consider doing right now. [00:00:38][11.5] [00:00:38] Put as much of your savings, which is earmarked for your downpayment, into an RRSP. Now to see how much you can put in check last year's notice of assessment from the CRA. Look for the line probably on the last page which says something like "your available RRSP contribution limit for such and such a year is..." So it might tell you. Let's say you have $15,000 worth RRSP contribution limit for the year, which is quite possible if you have not been contributing to Rs PS in the past. So let's go with that $15000 example. Take that amount out of your savings and buy a safe GIC or other form of RRSP. I know you're only going to get a couple of percent of interest, but that's not really the point. [00:01:23][44.7] [00:01:24] You see after the money is in the hours before 90 days. That's why I said three months. You can take it out and use it as your down payment on your first home. Now notice I said I was stressed the word first. That's because this only works for first time homebuyers. By the way, separating couples who sold their communal home may also qualify as first time buyers under this law. [00:01:45][21.5] [00:01:46] So why would you bother doing this? Well, next year, when you fill out your income tax forms, you can now claim that RRSP contribution as a deduction. Yes. Even though you've taken it all out to do your down payment, you can still write it off. And dear Justin is going to send you a hefty refund. You'll have to pay those contributions back over 15 years. But that's a small price to pay for getting around 30 percent of it gifted to you right now. So, for example, let's say you put 15000 into an RSP this week, three months or more from now. Three months is just the minimum. So if even if you're buying it six months, eight months from now, you go ahead and take it out and use it as your down payment. So you'll have to return that fifteen thousand into your own fund over 15 years, which works out to a thousand dollars a year. You even get to wait for two years to start this. [00:02:36][49.4] [00:02:36] But by doing this, your very next taxation year, you're going to get a nice refund probably in the neighborhood of three to four thousand dollars. So who doesn't need an extra three or four grand from the government in the late spring? When you get your income tax refund, you might be able to use it to get a new furnace for your house to a roof or do whatever other maintenance or upgrades that you wanted to do. Now, I'm a real estate agent, not a financial advisor. So if you have any questions about this. By all means, give me a shout. I'll put you in touch with the financial advisor that alerted me to this. And you can discuss it with them. But the bottom line is it's gonna put an extra three to four thousand dollars, depending on how much you're able to put into your RRSP, into your pocket. And I hope this

Are you downsizing from a house and thinking of renting an apartment? Or is it better to buy a condo instead? Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) [00:00:00] If you're ready to sell your house and consider apartment style living, are you better off renting or buying a condo? That's what we'll examine on this episode of Winnipeg's Real Estate podcast. [00:00:09][9.1] [00:00:14] You're listening to the Bo Knows Real Estate podcast. Tips and advice for home buyers, sellers and owners with award winning Remax agent Bo Kauffmann. [00:00:24][10.2] [00:00:27] I will work from time to time with elderly clients who, for a variety of reasons, have decided to sell their houses. Take a look at the option of living in a high rise, whether it's an apartment or a condo. Some of those reasons might include that the houses have become too big. Too many stairs, too much upkeep, too much yard work, too much maintenance. Or perhaps a change in lifestyle where the people want to move to live in the states for three, four months, five months, a year. And then the house becomes kind of a liability because you have to come have to have somebody come into the house every couple of days to check the furnace and make sure that everything's fine for your insurance. So the question comes up, what's better? Should we rent an apartment and take the money we get from the house and invested or should be buy a condominium? So there are two facets to answer this question. One is purely financial, which is which is cheaper to do. And I will look at that. And the second one is what about quality of life, which will offer you better options and more happiness throughout the year that you are here living in either an apartment or a condo. So for our purposes today, I'm going to be looking at two similar style living quarters. One. One is a two bedroom, one bath apartment, about eight hundred square feet and a 40 year old building in a decent neighborhood. It does not have in laundry. It does, however, have underground parking. And of course, there are no upfront costs to this. Comparing that to a similar condo, same size, but a $200000 upfront cost that you have to buy, two bedrooms, one bath with ensuite laundry and a much newer building, about five years old. And again, with with an indoor parking spot. The numbers I'm going to use, the prices and fees are actual real life numbers in Winnipeg at this time. [00:02:11][104.0] [00:02:12] I know that you can get cheaper apartments. You can get more expensive condos and the other way around. But this is just for illustration purposes. I've picked two buildings that are somewhat similar. So let's start by looking at the apartment rent in this apartment is thirteen hundred and forty dollars a month, which adds to a shade over sixteen thousand dollars a year. Utilities are fully included in this. So heat, hydro and water. Of course, I'm not counting tel- television and cable vision because you have to buy that anywhere else. And it's the same no matter where you are. So that's not really become part of the equation. Insurance you're going to want content insurance. In this case, it's about $250 a year to insure your content. It's a good idea in case something happens. Could be a break in. Could be a water damage from a neighboring suite. You want to make sure that your contents are insured. But now we have something to offset against this expense. Remember, with an apartment, you don't have to take that two hundred thousand that you would spend on a condo. You can take that money and invest it. Now, if you are in your 60s, 70s, certainly in your 80s, I personally probably would not recommend anything

Real estate is a very local, focused subject. Do you know whats going on in your neighbourhood? Introducing hyper-local real estate updates. Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) [00:00:03] If you're interested in buying or selling a house or a condo, you might be paying attention to the national real estate news. Please stop that right now. If you're in Winnipeg, knowing what's happening nationally is worse than useless. It may actually give you the wrong picture. Let's face it, if you want to buy a house in Winnipeg, hearing that Toronto is a hot market won't help you. But real estate is even more focused and local than that. So, for example, if you're thinking of selling your house in Transcona, you'll want to know the very recent activity in your neighborhood. If you're buying in Linden Woods, you won't really care what's happening in St. James, and so on. This is why I can produce hyper local real estate updates specifically for you. Wondering whether right now is the best time to sell your North Kildonan bungalow, your Wellington Crescent condo or your Bridgewater two story home? Thinking of buying a $250,000 home in St. James or a condo in southeast Winnipeg? Winnipeg has literally hundreds of neighborhoods from a Assiniboine Forest to Westwood, Amber Trails to River Heights, from Royalwood to Linden Woods. I'll create a focused and specific market report just for you. [00:01:14][71.0]

All the info home buyers and sellers need to decide whether now is a good time to buy or sell in Winnipeg. Market report for WInnipeg in April 2020. Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en)

Real Estate Roundtable Discussion - Q&A for Home BuyersAnswering questions from home buyers about financing, real estate law, home inspections and more.... The roundtable hosts are A real estate lawyer A home inspector 2 mortgage brokers A life insurance/investment expert A real estate agent for more info, go to blog.winnipeghomefinder.com (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com) Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en)

Are you and your spouse separating or divorcing? If you own a home together, you should listen to this advice from real estate and mortgage experts on the best course of action. How to sell your home while divorcing. Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en)

Retiring or getting out of the rental market? What is the best way to sell your rental property? Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) Start by moving the tenant out of the property. Incentivize them by offering to pay for their move, offer them the use of another property or help them find a suitable rental. Do whatever you can and have to, but get them out of the home so that you can sell it empty. I was going to explain, in todays episode, my reasons for advising to sell the property without tenant, but the episode would get too long, so we will have another podcast titled “What NOT to do when selling your investment property.” For today, let's assume that you agree, and have successfully removed the current tenant . So whats next? First, the goal is to make this home attractive to a home buyer who wants to buy it for themselves. NOT another investor (the reasons for this will be explained in another podcast) Depending on your price range, the home may appeal to a first time home buyer (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/7-worst-mistakes-first-time-home-buyers/) , so let's get it ready. Fresh paint, in and out, gross, replace THOSE. (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/bathroom-renovation-essential-tips/) Next, call a professional stager and stage the home. (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/5-home-staging-tips/)  They know how to make a small bedroom look bigger, how to accentuate the positive while minimizing the negative. Interesting side story: I had a bachelor suite for sale. Seller did not want to spend any money on it, so it was clean but not staged. Potential buyers had trouble imagining living in a suite without a bedroom, so it remained on the market for a full year. When the listing expired, the seller finally took my advice and we hired a stager who showed the possibilities in this cute, quaint space. Result…….SOLD within 10 days. Staging WORKS. Ok, the place is ready for to be listed, and shown to an adoring buying public. Call your listing agent and get it on the market.

Whose job and responsibility is it to fix certain items in a rental property (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/investing-winnipeg-real-estate-buying-rental-property/) ? The tenant or the landlord? These kinds of rules are usually set at the city or state (province) level, and here is one example of how the duties are divided. Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) Whose responsibilities are property repairs?So you're the owner of a property and you've got it rented out to a tenant and he or she calls you at 4:00 in the morning and advises you that the furnace is quit (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/replacing-furnace-size-important/) . Middle of winter. The answer seems kind of obvious. You as the owner, would be responsible for making sure there's heat in the place. Then a couple of weeks later, the tenant calls you and says the faucet is dripping. Is that your responsibility? What about the next time they call and the light bulbs are burnt out again? Whose responsibility is it? So for these answers, I turned to my good friend and property management expert Garrett Wang from Upper Edge Property Management, (http://upperedgepm.com) who has a very clear way of putting it. He basically categorized the items that needed to be repaired and fixed into two categories. And the first one would be the fixed assets that stay and remain with the house. These are things that you, the landlord, own. So, for example, the appliances, the faucets, the furnace, hot water tank, the windows, the electrical, things like that. Anything goes wrong with those things. It's your responsibility to fix it. And the second set of items is what he called the consumables. Now, these would be things like light bulbs, fuses if your electricity (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/knob-and-tube-wiring-fuses-and-other-electrical-upgrades/) is run through a fuse box, as well as furnace filters, air filters, those kind of things, things that are expected to be used up and burned out in regular everyday use. Those would be the responsibility of the tenant. Please keep in mind that these types of rules and laws are often set at a state or provincial level, sometimes even at a city level. So they might be different in every jurisdiction. So be sure to check in your area, but this certainly seems like reasonable advice. So if you're a property owner and you get tired of doing this kind of stuff yourself, or perhaps you're growing, you're growing beyond one or two properties, give me a shout. I'll put you in touch with Garrett. And he will certainly love to look after you. He does an excellent job in doing so. And if you're looking to buy a rental property in Winnipeg (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/investing-winnipeg-real-estate-buying-rental-property/) , be it a house or a condo. Give me a shout anytime as Bo Kauffmann RE/MAX performance realty here in Winnipeg. My direct cell is 204-333-2202. Or email me at BoKnowsHomes@gmail.com.

Are you thinking of buying a rental property? Here is a discussion with Property Manager, Garret Wong. Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) Bo Kauffmann [00:00:00] So you're thinking of buying rental property? (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/investing-winnipeg-real-estate-buying-rental-property/) Well, you're going to want to hear this if you're thinking of buying rental property and growing your real estate portfolio, then you're going to love this call Im about to make. I'm going to call a friend of mine. His name is Garrett Wong. Garrett is the president of the Professional Property Managers Association of Manitoba. And he runs a company called Upper Edge Property Management. Now they specialize in helping investors and property owners who have 1, 2, 3, you know, a small amount of rental properties. All in all, Upper Edge has over 600 residences in their portfolio and they're the perfect source of information. If you're looking for help in managing your properties. So let's give them a call right now. Garret Wong [00:00:55] Hello, Garrett speaking. Bo Kauffmann [00:00:56] Hey, Garrett, it's Bo, how you doing? Garret Wong [00:00:59] Good, and you? Bo Kauffmann [00:01:00] Good. Excellent. Listen, we'll get right into it. I wanted to ask you a couple of things about people wanting to get into owning rental properties. And one of the most common questions I get is, is Winnipeg still a good market? Now, I recall an article a couple of years ago that said that Winnipeg out of 36 markets, Winnipeg was actually the one with the lowest vacancy rate. Now was a couple of years ago. So I'm just wondering to hear your side of this. Is Winnipeg still a good market to own rental properties? Garret Wong [00:01:28] I believe so, yes. Those stats were a few years ago back in 2012, we actually had almost a zero percent vacancy rate with zero point nine percent. It has risen, but you know, it's it's fairly balanced. Now, I believe the last stats from CMHC last fall said it was about two point nine nine or effectively a three percent vacancy rate. And all that means is a lot of the tenants that are trying to find properties just have a little bit more choice. Right. But it hasn't really affected property values to the point that, you know, tenants can't find a place or there's bidding wars. It just means that you have to provide a decent product if you're going to be an investor. Bo Kauffmann [00:02:09] Right. You now have a little bit of competition and renters have a little bit of choice. Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that. Right. Exactly. I mean, I can go out and find a house for one hundred thousand dollars in the core area or I can find a million dollar house in Linden Woods. Where would you say is like the sweet spot for somebody who wants to buy their first rental property? What price range and what neighborhoods? Garret Wong [00:02:31] So I would probably not concentrate as much on price range of the building. That's kind of obviously that's important because you have to qualify and you have to make sure it cash flows properly to me. I would start with supply and demand. So I would look at what is the most desirable rent for, you know, your demographic, a family of four or whatever you're trying to attract. In my professional experience, I believe that's probably around the thirteen hundred dollar range, maybe 13 to 15 hundred. If you translate that back then into your cash flow projections, you're going to end up with, you know, a set amount that you can afford for your mortgage and that will translate out to a building value. Typically, I find that most neighborhoods that will support,...

Just how accurate are the City Assessed Values you can find online? Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) [00:00:08] This is actually a very common question I get from home buyers. (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/buying-a-house-home-buyers-guide/) They see a house listed at, let's say, 300,000 dollars and then find the city assessed value is just 250K. What's going on? The house is grossly overpriced, right? [00:00:23] So here's what's happening. The city assessed value is simply an average for that type, style, size and age of home in that particular neighborhood. Since the city in all likelihood has never stepped foot inside that particular home, they wouldn't know that the owner recently replaced all the windows, upgraded the heating and cooling, installed all new flooring and repainted inside and out. [00:00:45] None of those things require building permits, so the city has no idea that that's been done: so that this home would be above average when compared to others in the area. Now this can also happen the other way around, and a house which is city assessed at 255,000 might hit the market with the listing price of 220. In that case, the original owner might be selling the house in all its original glory with galvanized plumbing, knob and tube wiring and the walls filled with newspaper clippings pretending to be insulation. [00:01:16] The bottom line is: don't rely on city assessed value (i.e. an estimated average) to guide you as to the proper market value of any home. [00:01:25] After all, that's what your real estate agent is for. Get our podcast on any of your favorite pod-catchers. (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/podcast-signup)

Are you six months to a year away from buying a house or condo. What should you be doing right now? Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) Lots of buyers start looking at open houses when they are six months to a year away from making a purchase. It's fun. Nothing wrong with it but it's not the most productive thing you should be doing.   Buyers should check their credit ratings when the time comes to get pre-approved. The best mortgage rates go to the buyers with the best credit ratings.   Finding out that you have blemishes on your credit at that time might be too late. So contact your mortgage specialist and check your credit now, with plenty of time to correct any issues.

Never miss an episode. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winnipeg-real-estate-news/id1098802561) For your Android Devices, click here to (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bokauffmann.android.winnipeg&hl=en) Hello….. I am Bo Kauffmann of Remax Performance Realty (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com/bo-kauffmann-realtor-remax/) in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. I’ve been a REALTOR since 2005, helping buyers and sellers of houses and condos in our fair city. Real estate is a very local game……  if you’re looking to buy or sell a home, you normally would not care what the national, let alone international real estate markets are up to. Knowing about the market conditions in Houston TEXAS is about as useful as knowing the weather in Hong Kong ……..  you would only care if you are about to go there. So in this podcast, I will try to share tips and advice that would be useful for any home buyer, seller and owner. Things to watch out for when buying, tricks to help you sell, and advice on updating, renovating or maintaining your house or condo. One thing to be aware of is that most real estate laws fall under provincial legislation in Canada, and under the individual States legislations in the U.S. So if in doubt, ask your local REALTOR for advise on anything that’s discussed here. As I’m still very much an active real estate agent, running a podcast is a bit of a hobby, so I’ll try to post once a week or so. Episodes will be short, sweet and to the point. Each episode will cover one specific tip or subject.  You’re busy, so we wont waste a lot of time on chit chat. This podcast, similar to my blog and website, are a labour of love…… I don’t collect advertising money. So if you like what you hear, please share it with someone and help us grow. For more frequent information, and Winnipeg-centric updates, check my blog at https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com (https://blog.winnipeghomefinder.com) my Youtube Channel is https://youtube.com/bokauffmann (https://youtube.com/bokauffmann) Til next time….. remember: Bo Knows Real Estate.